Washington Injury Attorney Blog

Richard Hess, 63 of Chelan, was killed in a single-vehicle accident when his pickup truck rolled on Interstate 90 near the Cle Elum exit reports the Yakima Herald.com.

According to the report, Hess drove his truck off of the road and when he over-corrected, he crossed into the eastbound lanes where his truck rolled off the highway.

According to the Washington State Patrol, Hess did not have his seat belt properly fastened. Investigators are trying to determine if alcohol or drugs were involved.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Two people were injured when the truck they were riding in rolled on Interstate 82 near Prosser. Prosser is near the tri-cities area in south-east Washington.

According to a report in the TriCityHerald.com, Eric Anderson, 64 of White Swan, was taken to Prosser Memorial Hospital where he was listed in stable condition. His passenger, Anna Anderson, age 62, was treated for her injuries and was released.

The Washington State Patrol believes driver inattention may have been a factor in the truck accident. Driver inattention or distraction can occur when a driver engages in a secondary task while driving. Driver inattention can include: checking mirrors or speedometers, looking at passengers, mind wandering, poor concentration, carelessness, using cellular phones, operating minor controls including lights and stereo, eating or drinking and mind wandering.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that a 46-year-old truck driver from Auburn was critically injured when the tanker truck he was driving ran into an Highway 167 overpass. The unidentified man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment.

According to the report, SR 167 was closed for several hours after the 5:45pm trucking accident because it was feared that the truck was carrying a flammable liquid.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including medical costs.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that two firefighters from Ridgefield, Washington were killed and another passenger -- a 14-year-old boy -- was critically injured in a single-vehicle accident in Montana when the truck they were driving went off a bridge near Butte. Killed in the accident were Douglas Ray Jacobsen, 49, and his front seat passenger, Richard Daniel Streissguth, 45.

According to the report, Jacobsen was driving a Ford F-350 truck and pulling a trailer when he hit a guardrail and the trailer jackknifed and pushed the truck off a bridge. The truck landed upside down. The men were in Montana to pick up an antique fire engine.

The Montana State Patrol believes the weather and icy roads were a factor in the truck accident. Trooper Tammy Perkins said that speed may also have been a contributing factor.

There has been a spate of car accidents in Seattle over the weekend as a a cold front with freezing temperatures has moved into Western Washington. The best advice we can give motorists is to slow down.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents and the family of those who have been killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Ford Motor Corporation has announced that it will be the first car maker to build seat belt airbags into the rear seats of their Ford Explorer. The safety devices will be available in the Explorers next year.

Seat belt airbags are integrated into the shoulder portion of rear seat seat belts. The airbags deploy outward and side wise and provide safety for those riding in rear seats and limit movement of the neck and protect the head. The airbags are designed so that they deploy more slowly and with less force than front airbags so they are safe for young children and elderly passengers.

According to Wired magazine, Ford did extensive testing on the airbags and wanted to make sure that -- even in extreme conditions -- a child would not be injured by the airbags if he or she was sleeping and had their head slumped.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of

The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may receive compensation for your injuries, including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Olympian reports that Andy Zapolski, a 13-year-old boy from Idaho has died from injuries he sustained last week in a go-cart accident. John E. Kautz, age 39, has been charged with felony vehicular manslaughter in the boy's death.

The go-cart accident occurred on October 23rd when the two were driving go-carts on a city street. Kautz, who was intoxicated at the time of the accident, rear-ended the go-cart driven by Andy Zapolski. Zapolski suffered severe head trauma and died three days later at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Kautz is charged with vehicular manslaughter which is equivalent to vehicular homicide in Washington state. It can be charged if a person is killed and a person was operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In this case, the motor vehicle was a go-cart but the same charges apply if the person was operating a motorcycle, boat, auto or truck.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Last week, a Northwest Airlines commercial flight overview its destination by 150 miles. Fortunately, this was not a terrorist incident, the pilots were not asleep nor fighting. However, they were very distracted -- they were using a laptop computer -- and did not notice that it was time to land the plane.

According to The Seattle Times, the pilots Richard Cole of Salem, Oregon and Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Washington will lose their pilot's licenses because of the incident .

Recently in Washington DC, the National Transportation Safety Board held a summit on distracted driving which addressed the dangers of text-messaging and using other electronic devices while driving. The summit revealed data that said almost 6,000 people were killed and about 500,000 injured in motor vehicle accidents linked to driver distraction.

Data tells us that distracted driving kills. Hopefully, we will not have any more pilots so distracted that they don't realize where they are or that people are talking to them over radios.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. If you believe your auto accident was caused by someone using a cell phone, you might want to read our article, "What if my accident was caused by someone using a cell phone?"

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The National Transportation Safety Board has made recommendations to the Federal Aviation Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and other governmental agencies regarding operator fatigue and a sleep disorder called sleep apnea. The NTSB presented "Fatigue and Sleep Disorders in Transportation Accidents" at the Washington D.C. Sleep Society and their data reveals that fatigue and sleep apnea has been a factor in thousands of transportation accidents since 1967 including railroad, marine, intermodal, highway, and aviation.

The NTSB recommends that pilots and other operators or motor vehicles be evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea if they have other risk factors for that disorder.

Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person has pauses in their breathing during a sleep cycle. Each episode is termed apnea, and it means "failure to breath." When people have the condition, their breathing is obstructed during the night which affects their body, causing daytime sleepiness and fatigue.

THE NTSB gave examples of when sleep apnea was a factor in a bus accident, a train accident, a cruise ship accident and a case when two pilots fell asleep during a flight.

See the Seattle Times for a full report by the Associated Press on the condition.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Oregon construction worker, John Thomas Sparks, was killed in a construction accident when a dump truck backed over him on a work site on the Washington County road realignment project in Oregon.

According to a report on Oregon Live.com, Sparks, 51, was a flagger on the construction site on Saturday and was directing traffic and facing the other direction when the truck backed up and hit him. Sparks was apparently in the truck driver's blind spot. He was knocked down and received crushing injuries. He was pronounced dead at the accident scene.

The Federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) are conducting a full investigation. The Washington County Crash Analysis Reconstruction Team (CART) are also assisting in the investigation.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in construction accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will head up a summit this week on distracted driving. He may announce a plan to address cell phone usage by bus and truck drivers.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommends banning cell phone usage for bus and truck drivers . While the NTSB had made the recommendation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has not made any edicts yet.

Driver distraction is the cause of approximately 8 percent of large truck accidents.

Tips to avoid driver distraction include:

• Do not fixate on non-driving related objects. Outside of your vehicle, this could be billboards or buildings and inside your vehicle it could be paperwork or electronic devices.
  
• Do not smoke while driving. Studies show that smoking while driving increases your chances of being in an accident.
  
• Do not use cell phones or text messaging while driving. Cell phones distract the drivers eyes (to dial), auditory (to listen), biomechanical (physically operating the phone) and cognitive distracter (requiring you to attend in a mental task that is not driving).
  
• Do not eat while driving. Eating while driving can be dangerous as it requires a driver to remove their hands from the wheel and is both a physical and visual distraction.

Check the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration web-site for more information on driver distraction.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car or truck accidents caused by the negligence of another driver including cell phone usage.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Melissa Hinkle has filed a wrongful death lawsuit after her 13-year-old son, Casey and her father, Gervious Dale Hinkle, were killed in a motor vehicle accident over the 4th of July weekend. Melissa Hinkle also received injuries so severe in the same accident that she spent five days in the ICU.

According to KTEN.com, the Hinkle and the members of her family were on Interstate-35 just South of Gainesville when they slowed down in a construction zone. A 18-wheel semi-truck slammed into their SUV, killing Casey and Gervious. A few weeks later, in an almost identical accident, three more people were killed in a semi-truck accident in the same construction zone.
Hinkle's wrongful death lawsuit names five defendants including the truck driver, the trucking company, and the construction company that has the contract to repair the interstate, and the Texas Department of Transportation.

Hinkle's attorney, Steven Laird, says, "What makes it so tragic is that it was preventable." Laird contends that the Texas DOT did not have an adequate safety traffic control plan.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. At The Farber Law Group we often represent clients who have lost a family member due to the negligence of another. Wrongful death cases arise when a negligent act is the cause of person's death. A wrongful death lawsuit can be brought on behalf of a deceased loved one by a parent or a child.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has just released their report "Warning! Safety Violations Ahead: Motor Carrier Companies Keep Unsafe Trucks on U.S. Roads" To compile the report, the AAJ studied data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCS). After sifting through the data, they estimate that there are 200,000 trucks on U.S. roads with safety violations.

Commercial trucks are only 4% of all passenger vehicles yet 12% of all motor vehicle accident fatalities involve large trucks. In fact, the 9 million trucks on the road make up only 4% of all passenger vehicles but the accident rate for commercial trucks is 56% higher than for all motor vehicles combined.

Every year more than 4,000 people are killed in accidents with trucks and more 80,000 people are seriously injured. In Washington state in 2007, there were 79 fatalities involving large trucks.

Truck Crash Facts - FMCSA

4,808 Fatalities in Crashes Involving Large Trucks
142,949 Large Trucks Involved in Non-Fatal Crashes
86,245 Injuries in Crashes Involving Large Trucks
2,293 Large Trucks Involved in Hazmat Crashes

Often truck accidents are caused by serious violations of federal safety standards including:

• overloading of trucks
  
• allowing unqualified or untrained drivers to operate large trucks
  
• improper maintenance of truck brakes and tires
  
• excessive speed by truck drivers
  
• excessive hours at the wheel by truck drivers

Often, trucking companies violate safety standards and cut corners to maximize their profits and the expense of truck drivers and other motorists on the road.

Click here to read the full AAJ report .

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents involving large commercial trucks and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration study reports that 16 percent of drivers on weekend nights test positive for some type of drug including cocaine, marijuana and prescription sedatives. This is the first time the NHTSA has done this study so it is hard to compare it with previous years. However, former Seattle Police Chief, Gil Kerlikowske, who now heads the Office Of National Drug Control Policy, deems this statistic, "troubling."

Law enforcement officials are pleased that the number of drunk driving car accident fatalities has declined along with alcohol-impaired driving. Alcohol is a factor in about 20% of car accident fatalities.

Drunk driving statistics:

• A driver with a blood alcohol content of 0.08% or greater is 42% more likely to be male than female.
  
• The hours of 1am to 3am are the hours when drivers are more likely to be drunk driving
  
• Drunk driving among motorcycle drivers is twice that as automobile drivers(5.6% compared with 2.3%)
  
• Pick up truck drivers have a higher rate of driving under the influence, 3.3% pick up truck drivers are DUI compared to 2.3% of auto drivers.

Information for this blog was found in the Los Angeles Times in a column written by Martin Zimmerman.

If you or a loved one is seriously injured in a auto accident caused by a drunk driver, you should contact The Farber Law Group immediately. We may be able to help you recover compensation for your injuries including medical costs, lost wages and for pain and suffering. We have more than 30 years experience representing the victims of drunk drivers and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group today at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Olympian reports that Ray W. Lawrence, age 60 or Montesano, was injured when the logging truck he was driving overturned on Monday morning in a trucking accident.

According to the report, Lawrence was driving a logging truck that was fully loaded when his trailer hit a guard rail causing the truck to overturn. Lawrence suffered cuts to his face in the accident.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been injured in the course of their employment including construction accidents, trucking accidents and other industrial accidents.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or e-mail attorney@hgfarber.com. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Seattle's KOMO News.com reports that a Springfield, Oregon Sanipac truck driver was killed when the compactor mechanism of his truck released and crushed him to death. Sanipac is the commercial recycling service for the city.

The 19-year veteran of Sanipac, Larry Cantrell, age 61, was found by a homeowner who noticed the truck parked in front of his home and found Cantrell dead.

The Oregon Safety & Health Division officials are investigating the cause of the accident to determine if it was an operator error or equipment malfunction.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in on-the-job accidents and the families of those killed. With our help, a worker may recover compensation for their injuries including loss-of-wages. For families who have lost a loved one, we can help insure a stable future for a worker's family.

Contact The Farber Law Group today, a construction accident attorney firm with offices in Seattle and Bellevue.

The Washington State Patrol reports that 25-year-old Aron Damaranville was killed and five other people were injured when a car slid into the path of an oncoming pickup truck on an icy road near Westport, Washington. The driver of the pickup and the driver of the car were injured as well as two passengers in the car. Damaranville was a passenger in the car.

Washington roads and highways have been inundated with snow and the driving conditions are treacherous this week leading up to Christmas. The Washington State Patrol urges people to stay home if at all possible.

This information was brought to you by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. With offices in Seattle and Bellevue, our experienced personal injury attorneys represent people who have been seriously injured and the families of those killed in car accidents.

Contact The Farber Law Group today for a free and confidential case evaluation.

Information for this blog is from KomoNews.com.

The driver of a semi tractor-trailer truck was killed in an accident this morning on the I-5 in Olympia reports The Seattle Times.

The trucker, a 49-year-old Renton man apparently lost control of the truck and crashed into the Eastside Street overpass. The driver had only been on the job for 3-1/2 weeks; his instructor suffered minor injuries and may have been in the sleeper compartment of the truck at the time.

It is not known whether speed was a factor in the accident. The accident is under investigation.

This information was brought to you by Washington Injury Attorney, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured and the families of those killed in trucking and auto accidents. With our help, you may be able to recover compensation for your damages including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group today for a free case evaluation.